John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I compliment Deputy Hayes on tabling the motion and the Fine Gael Party for giving priority to school children and their special needs which are not being catered for by the education system. I speak on this motion having been in the front-line of the teaching profession for many years and having experienced at first hand the frustrations of principals, teachers and parents at the inability to get access to help that is so badly needed by students to give them a chance to keep pace with the system. If they get access to that system, the recommendations made are often either, at worse, refused or, at best, cut back. On the positive side, I have seen the progress students can make when early intervention occurs. I have seen students who began school with great difficulties end up with masters' degrees as a result of the help they received at an early stage.

The other side of the coin, unfortunately, is much more prevalent in classrooms throughout the country because of the under-resourcing and shortage of psychologists to make vital assessments specifying the help students need. As a teacher I have witnessed at first hand what happens in these cases. All the pupils in the class are affected. This is an important point. Students with special needs fall further and further behind. The brighter students are also affected because their progress is restricted. Class discipline becomes a problem and the teacher is helpless to deal with the position because he or she does not have any in-service training to deal with the special needs provisions. There is also a major deficit in the allocation of resource teachers particularly in second level schools.

Many schools are not covered by NEPS. The schools that are covered are restricted in the number of assessments they may receive each year depending on their status as disadvantaged or otherwise and also on the number of the pupils at the school. These criteria are simply not acceptable and action is needed by the Minister to make appointments she promised at the beginning of the year. The psychologists who are in place find themselves in an impossible position. Some of them cater for up to 15 schools. They cannot spread themselves in all directions.

A number of other important points need to be made. In recent days I met parents who had to seek private assessments for their children because this service was not available through the system, but to add insult to injury their children were not given the help recommended in the assessments they received. In one case, the special educational needs organiser gave one and a half hours tuition when three hours were recommended. Who is accountable for this? A laptop was recommended in another case but was refused. One-to-one help was specified as necessary in another case, yet three or four pupils with different needs were grouped together, one had dyslexic difficulties, another had ADHD and another had numeracy problems. What will be the rate of progress in that group? The answer is fairly obvious.

I spoke to a school principal yesterday who still cannot obtain an assessment for a second year student as we approach Christmas, even though the student has been in second level for up to 15 months. The system is in disarray and the sooner that is acknowledged, the better because it is only then that we can begin to find a solution.

NEPS was introduced seven or eight years ago. If it was implemented and resourced properly, the number of assessments required at second level should be on the decrease because students' special needs should be picked up at an earlier stage in the primary system. We all know that the need for these assessments is increasing, as are parents' frustrations with not getting them for their children.

How is a school principal expected to adhere to the EPSEN Act and the Disability Acts if the necessary backup is not provided under NEPS? I strongly commend the motion to the House.

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